Puppet's Nightmare
by Gyaradosmaster
Summary: Reiji looked at Reira who was shivering constantly and gripping into the blanket harder and harder. Reira might not have any sense of self, but that didn't mean he didn't have any emotions and more often than not, fear was the primary emotion showing.


There was a lot of discussion about Reiji's actions towards Reira in episode 67. Some people still see him as a good big brother, but to some he's a total jerk. This isn't really a take on that scene, but it's about their relationship. I had this idea for a while so I had to write it down. As always, I don't own Arc-V and I hope you enjoy!

…...

Everywhere he looked, he saw crumbled buildings and fallen bodies. Everything he heard were screams of people or sounds of weaponry being used. Reira could barely even focus on his heart beating out of his chest as he ran for cover in this land where staying still could get you killed in a blink of an eye.

'' _I have to survive! I have to survive.''_ The thought repeated in Reira's head ad nauseam and after a while of running, he found an abandoned warehouse where he could catch his breath. It wasn't all that safe of course, the building could easily collapse, but it was still safer than standing outside where there were other threats besides faulty construction. Once inside, Reira was met with a desolate and grey sight with rubble everywhere, just like his previous hiding place. Only there was something different about this one. There was a feeling of dread in the air, which made him feel that there was something else inside as well.

Reira smelled the air and recognized the smell of blood. He wished that it wouldn't be so easy for him to recognize it, but he was sure about it, which could only mean one thing, someone was killed here just recently. Reira thought about finding a different place to hide, but when he turned around, he saw that the warehouse door was closed, even though he had never touched it. Having no other choice, Reira gulped and walked further in, following the dreadful scent.

He nearly tripped over them once he found the bodies. Bodies of a man and a woman, both approximately in their early 30s. But once Reira saw their faces, his eyes widened and he let out a loud gasp.

''Mom…Dad…'' His memories of them were hazy at best as in a warn-torn country it was easy to get separated, but he definitely recognized these faces. Before he could get a closer look, he felt something being pressed against the back of his head, something cold and metallic. This was followed by a sharp click sound that made Reira all too aware of what was being pressed against him. He turned around, only to come face-to-face with a rifle, which was held by a bald man wearing sunglasses.

''What is a kid doing here?'' The man asked, his voice devoid of any emotion or empathy of his situation. Reira couldn't even respond, the shock and fear taking all the words out of him. ''Are you perhaps that kid that is said to be able to perfectly copy people and execute orders?'' He had heard that one particularly traumatized kid had obtained this ability in his desperate attempts to survive. Unable to respond verbally, Reira just nodded weakly.

''You know, you should consider yourself lucky that you lived this far. Most kids don't even get a single day.'' The war had been going on long before Reira had born, though it hadn't been as severe. ''Too bad that luck has run out.'' The man then raised the rifle a bit, right at Reira's forehead and he was still too shocked and afraid to move a single inch. ''Now then…let's see how good you are at copying your dead parents.'' The man pressed the trigger and everything turned red, before turning to black.

''AHH!'' Reira screamed as he woke up, cold sweat pouring down his neck as his heart raced in his chest. He looked around, only to see a luxurious bedroom, so unlike the image in his dream. The contrast couldn't be bigger, even if he tried to imagine one. ''Just a dream…'' Reira's heartbeat started to get back to normal, but he wasn't ready to go back to sleep, not yet.

*Knock Knock*

Reira nearly screamed again when he heard that, but then he realized that it was just someone knocking on his bedroom door. He glanced at the clock on his night stand and saw that it was 1:30 AM. He must have woken someone up with his scream and he desperately hoped that it wasn't his…mother. ''C-Come in.'' His voice was weak and shaky, but the person behind the door heard him anyway.

''I heard your scream Reira. Did something happen?'' Reira let out a big sigh of relief when Reiji entered the room. His expression wasn't one of concern, but then again, it had always been hard to read what he was really thinking.

''I…I just had a bad dream.'' Reira was looking away from him, not feeling like looking at his big brother in the eyes. ''Sorry for waking you up.'' He stared down at his blanket as Reiji stared straight at him.

''I wasn't asleep yet. I had some work to take care of and were walking by your room.'' Reiji then walked closer to the bed, making Reira realize just how big his bedroom actually was. Times like this made him feel lucky that he was adopted to the Akaba family, though other times…he wondered if it would have been better if he had been left in his home country. ''Do you want to talk about it?'' Reiji asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed. He realized that Himika most likely wouldn't approve of him doing this, but she would never find out.

Reira was quiet for a while, wondering what he should say and if he said it, how he should word it. ''…I saw my dead parents and then…then I was shot myself.'' Reira clutched his blanket, his fingers digging into the soft fabric. ''I don't know the man who did it.'' But this wasn't the first time he had appeared in his nightmares.

''I see.'' Was the only thing Reiji said for a while. When they found Reira, they weren't able to locate his parents, nor find their bodies. There was a chance they were alive, but it was an extremely slim one and one that neither he nor Himika believed in. Even after the fact, he wasn't able to find much on Reira's biological parents. A country like that kept most of its information well-secured after all and long nights of research had ended up him with no useful information. ''Have you had this nightmare often?'' He realized it was difficult to talk about, but to get Reira to talk about this would only be a good thing.

''…Not this exact one, but all of my nightmares are about my home.'' Whether it was him dying, him witnessing something truly horrible, him actually killing someone or any combination of the three. ''This was the first time my parents were in it.'' It wasn't that surprising as he didn't have that many memories of them and even less happy ones about them.

Reiji looked at Reira who was shivering constantly and gripping into the blanket harder and harder. Reira might not have any sense of self, but that didn't mean he didn't have any emotions. They were definitely weak and his lack of expression was something to be concerned about, but they were there and more often than not, fear was the primary emotion showing. After all, fear gives birth to your survival instincts, fear keeps you alive and away from danger, which was something Reira had to become good at. That probably gave birth to his ability as well. He was so scared of dying that he started copying other people with better chance of survival and perfectly executing orders, because disobeying someone with a weapon was generally not a good idea. That fear kept him alive…but there was no reason to keep that fear active in Maiami City.

''Big brother?'' Reira asked confused when Reiji stood up from his bed after barely doing or saying anything.

''I'll be right back.'' Reiji said and before Reira could ask anything more, he was gone and out of the door, leaving Reira alone in the big and dark room. He didn't like the atmosphere of the room at all and he had no plans to go back to sleep anytime soon, so he flipped the switch on the lamp on his night desk to get some light in and it calmed him down somewhat. With this light, he could see his deck on the night desk as well and decided to look through it.

His C/C deck was made by Leo Corporation and he was the only one in the world with it, same as Reiji and his D/D deck. You might say that it gave him an unfair advantage, but Reiji had made sure that the cards would be well-balanced and that Reira's own abilities as a duelist mattered as well. Before being adopted, Reira had never dueled, there was never a chance in his own country, but as soon as he was brought here, he was given intense duel training to quickly become best of the best, at least among his age group. Himika mentioned something about having him enter Maiami World Championships later this year, which made him a little nervous. He had never dueled outside of the house after all. In fact, he barely spend much time outside the house, though there were many reasons why.

He was heavily monitored for one thing. It was either by Himika directly, or when she was busy, by Nakajima. His bedroom was one of the rare places when he could be perfectly alone, but he wasn't supposed to do much else besides sleep here anyway. He was never allowed to socialize with other kids, because they weren't worth his time. Or at least, that's what everyone told him, no one ever asked his opinion. Though to be honest, Reira wasn't all that keen in making friends anyway. Considering the family he was in, getting real friends that didn't care about his name or status would be difficult. ''Maybe during MWC…'' Not that he was expecting to duel against anyone interesting.

''I'm back.'' Reira nearly jumped again when Reiji returned and this time he had something in his hands. It was a plushie of some kind, a bear perhaps. Once Reiji was by the bed, he handed the object to Reira, who looked at it in confusion, not taking it. ''This is for you. Maybe it will help you have less nightmares.'' Because he didn't want to imagine Himika walking here after being woken up by another one of Reira's screams.

Reira blinked a few times, before grabbing the object in question. It was very soft and it definitely felt nice to hold, but something about it seemed really familiar, like he had seen it before somewhere. Then it hit him. ''This is…'' They had been in that house when…

''Yes, there was a box of these plushies in the building we found you in, though all of them were severely damaged.'' Effects of the war he supposed. ''I had one of them fixed, but I wasn't sure when to give you one. This seems like the perfect time.'' Reiji finally let out a small smile. It was very brief, but Reira greatly appreciated it either way. ''I hope it won't just give you more nightmares.'' After all, it was another reminder of Reira's tragic first years, something that he probably wanted to forget about, but couldn't.

''I'm sure it won't. It's a gift from you after all.'' Reira managed a smile, a very rare sight from the incredibly timid and closed-out boy. Reiji wondered if there was ever going to be a day when he smiled without it being about him, but that wasn't so important.

''Try to get some sleep. Tomorrow there's more training.'' Reira didn't like the sound of that, but the joy of receiving this plushie from his big brother overrode those negative feelings. So Reiji walked away from the bed and opened the bedroom door.

''Thank you big brother.'' Reira said as he clutched the toy closer to his chest, making Reiji worry that it wouldn't last long if that was how tight Reira was going to hold it.

''You're welcome. Good night.'' Reiji then left the room and soon, his footsteps faded away.

Reira pulled the blankets on him, his hands still clutching onto that toy, the only source of comfort for him, besides Reiji himself. And with his hands around this new soft toy, he fell asleep and slept the rest of the night peacefully.

…

There, done! I wonder if I horrified anyone with all the things I said about Reira's home country. All we really got was that it had been ravaged by war for a long time…so I made it a bit more horrible. So if you were appalled by it, then that means I succeeded! And of course if you thought that interactions between Reiji and Reira were somewhat sweet or at least good, then that means I also succeeded.

But like always, review if you liked, review if you didn't like.


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